Yes! I love, love, love More Than Ready, one of my all time favorite sires. He died last year and it’s nice to see him get a BC winner posthumously.
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My DH’s heart horse, jc: Cleveland Sound, is by More Than Ready so we always bet any of his progeny.
We also had the opportunity to see him before he passed.
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Not that I care much about the handicapping analyses, but this Edzo guy is kind of a nice change from the previous years’ analysts, who acted like cracked out shouty spider monkeys.
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Looked like a regular ring bit to me. There is no such thing as a double twisted wire cage bit. Cage bits are mullen mouths
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Thanks for the correction; did not know cage bits only had the one variety.
Well that sure didn’t go how I had hoped, but at least STG came back safe & sound.
Hats off to Full Serrano & his whole team.
Any word on what happened with Saudi Crown?
He was eased up.
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Though I have no shares in either horse, I was rooting away in both races. Was hoping we’d make it a twofer, but it was nice seeing MRH having two horses in the Breeders Cup. Round of applause to all the folks who have shares in either/both horses. What a ride!
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I think after today Thorpedo Anna deserves HOTY. She was easily the most consistent performer all year.
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Well you may remember when they first announced he was using a cage bit there was confusion because the bit pictured was actually a Houghton bit. But both the Houghton bit and an actual cage bit are solid. A cage bit has a bar that goes through the mouth and a disc with prongs on one side that stay recessed unless the rein is pulled out to the side. And the Houghton is a solid mouthpiece with a box that goes under the jaw so if you pull one rein it moves the whole lower jaw. Neither would work with any type of flexible mouthpiece like a twisted wire
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So proud of Bentornato today in the Sprint! We owned his dam Her Special Way in 2022, foaled a full brother to him and sold them last year. We bought her as a sport horse broodmare, and I got a lovely Saketini filly from her in 2023 before Bentornato took off.
Now that “sport horse” filly is worth a good bit of money! Bentornato is only 3yo and has earnings of 1.1M.
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Do you still have the filly?
Neat that you have this connection!
Yes. I just started ground driving her last week, and put her through a low free jump chute on Friday. She’s very smart, athletic, and kind.
“Seven” means a lot to me, as my husband bought the mare specifically for me for my stallion Saketini, and this filly was born as nice as we’d hoped (for a sport horse). His health has been in serious decline since April 2023, and this was to be a keeper filly for me.
However there has been some serious interest in her from racing/breeding people, and if there is a significant offer I probably can’t refuse it. In a perfect world I’d love to retain 5% interest, and definitely get her back if she doesn’t cut it as a racing producer.
As a foal with her dam, Her Special Way.
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Totally didn’t just spend $100 on win photos of my breeder’s cup champion 
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I had Fierceness, but when I saw Sierra Leone in the post parade I said to my DH, holy crap that horse is on the muscle. He looked great! My DH bet on him and the rest is history.
City of Troys trainer blamed himself in a post race interview. Said he felt he did not properly school the horse on breaking and dealing with the crowded conditions. Said he schooled him on the break and staying mid group when he should have had the lad send him to the front in schooling and the jockey gun for the front in the race instead of wait.
Not often we get to hear a trainer of that magnitude shoulder all the blame for a disappointing performance. Rather refreshing I thought.
Since Fierceness did not win the Classic, TA looks like HOTY. IMO,
SLs connections say he will be back as a 4 year old. After all the disappointments and work straightening the horse out, why nor run him and enjoy some consistency, might help him as a stallion too.
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Aidan O’Brian invariably thanks everyone at home, by name, for all race successes and blames himself for any failures.
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I’ve never known him to point fingers or tell off a rider when a horse doesn’t perform as hoped. Failures are his and successes belong to the horses and their caretakers.
He’s a class act all around, and it’s not rehearsed, according to people who’ve been to Ballydoyle.
I enjoyed the brief interview and seeing City Of Troy having a roll.
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I hope Sierra Leone’s connections meant an actual 4yo campaign and not a “one and done” in the Pegasus.
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I always enjoy these round up of thoughts after the races.
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Thanks, I managed to record everything and watch most of it. The Distaff is one of my favorites.
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